To study or not to study?

I'm a 21 year old 2nd year Finance student getting ready for finals for 3rd semester. I'm now in Spain doing erasmus semester. Regularly I study and live in Poland.

As in topic I am struggling with decision whether to keep on studying (3rd semester + double final session this semester) to finish my Bachelor Studies,

or quit it and spend my time playing poker 4 living, working on my startup company and organizing my life better and investing in stacking - something I don't have time for right now. Plus in the near future I might have a flat to rent in my hometown which could almost cover my living expenses.

I don't have a driving license and don't need/want a car, so my monthly expenses in Poland are max 650$ (it's a nice room in flat with flat mates, drinking 4-6 times a month, smoking, eating mostly outside since little time for cooking, gym, phone, public transport, some taxi rides, cinema w/e) usually it's round 500$/month.

I play nl50 zoom, roll around 7k so very conservative. I think I start nl100 when I get back and finish finals.

The way I see it, to get value from my studies I need to make Master Studies and work for 2 years in the same time, then work for next 2 years while doing CFA (working experience is needed to pass CFA) .

And it seems just lame and I don't want it ;d and studying + playing was quite exhausting and I think that playing+working+studying won't be possible if I want to keep all 3 parts on high quality level.

With just bachelor I can work for around 600$/month, 900$/m if I get really lucky (in Poland, but I have no problem with moving to different country so...).

Before I've decided that I will take at least 1 year break after Bachelor but its still over 1,5 year from now and 4 finals sessions+bachelor thesis.

But on the other hand as long as I study I am supported by my family. Which is ok coz obv. I can grow my roll without any major withdraws but I really want to cut the cord already.

I speak English, German, basic Spanish and obv. Polish and I don't mind moving anywhere. Erasmus has been great for me. My family lives in Germany mostly.

And having done erasmus already and making a lot new friends in Poland (I've moved to different city to study) I kinda feel like I've experienced enough socially from studies and that is not an issue for me.

So I would appreciate any words of wisdom and advice, maybe you have been in this situation and something that I am missing changed/made your mind.

I know that there might have been such topics, but this is mine and about my situation

This post has been edited 2 time(s), it was last edited by vergato: 22.01.2013 11:26.

Originally posted by belthazorrrr
I trully believe that yo should quit. You will make much more money in poker now if you study poker and play the hours you would have ''invest'' in Bachelor

Studying is an investment itself and a lifelong too, nobody needs workers without a degree nowadays

Originally posted by belthazorrrr
Moreover poker has much much much more potential than any other job propably.

This might be the dumbest thing Ive ever heard. All of you that think its easy to be like the iveys isildurs etc need to back the fk off and think for a second is it easy to become bill gates or steve jobs, these people are also the best at what they do

If you play 3/6, yeah fine, i would have no problem with it, but cmon, quit uni at the micros

Check DaWarsaw - he is doing SNE on P* playing 8tables nl25/nl50 zoom, now I think nl50/nl100, with rb he made around 120k$ profit in 2012.

@belthazorrrr:

thanks mate! the money and potential is unknown but poker is the most satisfying work I've done so far.

@abhi147:

I had 200k hands downswing last year - really glad I had it, learned a lot about poker and myself in the process. Also in 2011 I had 90% of my roll frozen in FTP mess. still managed to grind my way back after few months.

I've played around 1,2kk hands life time, twice from microstakes.

Stuff to fall back to(nothing set in stone but possible enough to consider it): I have good idea for small advertising business that works great in Spain,

possible flat to rent in near future,

I'll invest part of my roll in stacking - but I need to learn how to do it well first;

I can translate almost anything from German to English, Polish, from English to Polish and from Polish to English.

plus I play with 100bi+ brm and keep money for half a year in a bank account.

The thing I am afraid the most is "weird poker laws" but the way I see it worst times for online poker are behind us. And there is no way Casino's stop operating all of the sudden

100% get your education first. It's not just a safety net in case it all goes wrong pokerwise either, it's a mind issue. I know of quite a few people who dropped out (I'm sure most here know some as well) and they virtually to a person regret it, albeit to varying dgrees, no matter how successful later some of them have become. A not small number of them have gone back to finish because it plays on their mind and it becomes 'unfinished business.'

Basically, get the education, then decide if you want to put it on your resume or not, at least you'll have the choice.

Thanks! I can't foresee how I would feel if I didn't finish at least Bachelor and it's a valid point. And in next semesters I might actually learn something valuable...

Now studying looks like doing almost nothing for 3,5 month, then studying like a zombie for 3 weeks and passing finals, repeat. With little to no motivation/satisfaction.

Maybe my major was a wrong choice because it clearly shouldn't look like this.

I would say it's 80% I decide to finish Bachelor.

Still thou I think that Bachelor without Masters and additional certificates is worth very little (too little for me), and I am gonna have to decide at some point whether to focus on poker or doing work experience+masters and CFA.

Originally posted by belthazorrrr
I trully believe that yo should quit. You will make much more money in poker now if you study poker and play the hours you would have ''invest'' in Bachelor

Studying is an investment itself and a lifelong too, nobody needs workers without a degree nowadays

Originally posted by belthazorrrr
Moreover poker has much much much more potential than any other job propably.

This might be the dumbest thing Ive ever heard. All of you that think its easy to be like the iveys isildurs etc need to back the fk off and think for a second is it easy to become bill gates or steve jobs, these people are also the best at what they do

If you play 3/6, yeah fine, i would have no problem with it, but cmon, quit uni at the micros

You dont need to be isildur or any isildur to make good money in poker. Even a nl100 player can make at least twice more than most people. And this is if he is lazy

Poker has the most potential than any other job. Why? Because if you put hours and study you can make 100k playing nl200 post rakeback working less hours than a regular job. You dont need to play 3/6 to live from poker

Keep studying. There's so many guys like you that want to quit and make it big in poker and very few out of them actually achieve something. (not talking about 3/6 or w/e)

Been in your spot and don't regret not quitting, finished studies and poker was still there and tbh I kinda played more when I was studying.

Also it rly gets harder moving up when you get to pay your bills as failed shots hurt much more.

Well I guess you can take academical vacation or w/e it's called for one year and see how it goes. But then make yourself some fairly hard goal to achieve that if you don't achieve it you get back to studying.

It's funny how life throws under your legs, be it in books/movies/people, those little "random" synchronizations which are referring to what you are thinking about.
(I have just read it 5 mins before)

"One day I'll make it." Is your goal taking up so much of your attention that you reduce the present moment to a means to an end? Is it taking the joy out of your doing? Are you waiting to start living? If you develop such a mind pattern, no matter what you achieve or get, the present will never be good enough; the future will always seem better. A perfect recipe for permanent dissatisfaction and nonfulfillment, don' t you agree?

This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by YohanN7: 22.01.2013 13:10.

If you are prepared to move around, and if you are good at a job, then why go for some measly $120k per year? That is not a very high salary in a nice international career. There are poker players too with masters and PhD degrees. Some of them, by the way, consider (poker wise) $120k to be a fairly big pot, no more.

Originally posted by belthazorrrr
I trully believe that yo should quit. You will make much more money in poker now if you study poker and play the hours you would have ''invest'' in Bachelor

Studying is an investment itself and a lifelong too, nobody needs workers without a degree nowadays

Originally posted by belthazorrrr
Moreover poker has much much much more potential than any other job propably.

This might be the dumbest thing Ive ever heard. All of you that think its easy to be like the iveys isildurs etc need to back the fk off and think for a second is it easy to become bill gates or steve jobs, these people are also the best at what they do

If you play 3/6, yeah fine, i would have no problem with it, but cmon, quit uni at the micros

You dont need to be isildur or any isildur to make good money in poker. Even a nl100 player can make at least twice more than most people. And this is if he is lazy

Poker has the most potential than any other job. Why? Because if you put hours and study you can make 100k playing nl200 post rakeback working less hours than a regular job. You dont need to play 3/6 to live from poker

A good reg at NL200 win about 4bb/100 hands, so to win 100K in a year you need to play 1.250.000 hands, i know that rakeback is not included but you still need to play a lot to win that much in a year!

Imagine that average people in europe are making 1.5k per month working 176 hours

I am sure a nl200 reg can make 4k working only 120 hours. This is equal to 46k per year. If the same reg put effort to improve his play and play 150 hours per month then he will make more than 5k per month

I believe that finish studies first and not follow something you like is a taboo that i dont see it will be changed. This is the result when we grow up all people advice us to find a good girl and finish some good university or whatever then marry and make children

This is how most people are growing and subconsciously follow the same road. Every person who has the tendencies to follow or act differently, is the black sheep. Especially when they choose poker when it is ''bad'' because it is ''gambling''

Poker will always be here if he wants to follow it. But if study for a bachelor is unmotivating, uninteresting and boring then he has to follow his heart. Whatever his road will be it would be difficult

But i think that poker has much more potential and give much more interesting taste in life

When i look at my bigbrother who is a professor working in netherland/part time russia, and sees that because he studied so insanely much from he was 10 to around 30, he now decides himself when he wants to go to the uni, what to do when he is at the uni, and he is like a reg on the planes, due to his part time work in russia. Large friend pool in the world around him (all countries) - i would just be sad to see if you make the same mistake i did.

But its up to you. If u are a golddigger, then poker is much more +ev (IF u GET UR ASS OUT OF NL50 ASAP)

Meh go for the grind, I make better money grinding 100nl than using my sick welding skills which I studied for.

Feel like I wasted all that part of my life and now have much better opportunities from meeting with like minded people who are usually interested in busness and investing also.

Can you not just take a gap year and hit the pokerzz with everything you got fairly sure anyone who is commited can do it. Then there is always the option of carrying on as you were if you do fail or maybe don't like the lifestyle

Originally posted by belthazorrrr
Imagine that average people in europe are making 1.5k per month working 176 hours

I am sure a nl200 reg can make 4k working only 120 hours. This is equal to 46k per year. If the same reg put effort to improve his play and play 150 hours per month then he will make more than 5k per month

I believe that finish studies first and not follow something you like is a taboo that i dont see it will be changed. This is the result when we grow up all people advice us to find a good girl and finish some good university or whatever then marry and make children

This is how most people are growing and subconsciously follow the same road. Every person who has the tendencies to follow or act differently, is the black sheep. Especially when they choose poker when it is ''bad'' because it is ''gambling''

Poker will always be here if he wants to follow it. But if study for a bachelor is unmotivating, uninteresting and boring then he has to follow his heart. Whatever his road will be it would be difficult

But i think that poker has much more potential and give much more interesting taste in life

i agree with this, it very much depends on your county's actual avg salary...

for example, here in Slovakia (in my city - capital) the avg salary per month is about $1300, overall in SVK its about $750..... so u can pretty much be an above-average playing NL50 full-time profitably (just with like 5bb/100 including rake) and be a brawler playing NL100+

Thanks! I can't foresee how I would feel if I didn't finish at least Bachelor and it's a valid point. And in next semesters I might actually learn something valuable...

Now studying looks like doing almost nothing for 3,5 month, then studying like a zombie for 3 weeks and passing finals, repeat. With little to no motivation/satisfaction.

Maybe my major was a wrong choice because it clearly shouldn't look like this.

I would say it's 80% I decide to finish Bachelor.

Still thou I think that Bachelor without Masters and additional certificates is worth very little (too little for me), and I am gonna have to decide at some point whether to focus on poker or doing work experience+masters and CFA.

I can see that you think become a poker pro is more satisfaction and easy than normal profession.....
ok pause your study for one semester then see if you like it or not.